Shared Fates
by Ryoko Porter
Summary: Aang and his friends encounter a strange woman who seems to have a connection with the both the Fire Nation and the Avatar legacy. will she help them defeat the Fire Lord? or get in their way? read prologue for pairings. rated for language and sex
1. Prologue

Disclaimer; I don't own anything from 'Avatar: the Last Airbender'. I only own the concepts of this fanfic, including my character Shin.

Notes: Firstly, I've had this idea rolling in my head for a while, but when I was the 'movie special' (episodes; the Library and the Desert), I knew it would be a good place to start my story. Second and lastly Shin is pronounced 'shee-n', and is the Japanese word for 'new' just if you want to know.

Shared Fates

By Ryoko Porter

Prologue – A Vision of Warning

"He said to put a muzzle on him!" Toph accused; she was eager to witness the hurt that would be put upon the Sandbenders. After all, it was their fault that she and the others had been suffering the wrath of both the desert and Aang for the last few days.

"You muzzled Appa?" Aang raged. Oh, they were in for it now! She wished for a moment that she had the gift of vision, so that she could see their panicked faces. But the blind girl could feel the air bring the sand over her feet, and hear the terrified murmurs of the tribes' men. "Where is Appa? WHERE IS MY BISON?" Whoa, who knew twinkle-toes had it in him? Toph was impressed; she even might've been frightened if that same fury had been aimed at her.

The Earthbender's musings were suddenly interrupted though, as a hand took her by the arm and pulled her into a run. "RUN!" Sokka then, must have been the one guiding her away from the great power that she could sense growing. Again she heard the older boy order everyone to run, but this time it was harder to hear over the growing sound of howling winds. Never in her life had she observed such a reckless, uncontrolled power such as this. And for a moment the tough girl almost regretted goading the Avatar into such a fury. Almost, but not quite.

AVATAR.thelastairbender.AVATAR.thelastairbender.AVATAR.thelastairbender.

"Where am I?" Aang muttered as the haze gradually cleared from his mind. The answer he got was a loud and familiar rumble, and a great tongue run over his entire body. "APPA!" the light Airbender cheered as he took a great wind-assisted leap from his place lying on the ground to his bison companion's face. Clinging onto the thick fur like a monkey, Aang let tears of joy and relief at seeing his lost friend yet again flow. "Oh Appa! I'm so glad you're okay!"

Appa then finally had enough of his master clinging to his face, and used his great force to throw his head and his master back. As Aang softly landed onto his usual place atop his friend's head, he finally noticed that his other friends were not in sight.

"Appa, where are the others?" Aang asked as he crawled close to the bison's ears.

The reply that the Avatar got was the sudden take off by the flying bison into the air. Aang held on as they flew quickly over the desert he'd been stuck in, the scenery changing very little as they went. Then he saw that they were coming to the great rock plateau that he'd just been at, and where he'd last seen the rest of his friends. He tried to guide the bison down to land so that he could get Katara and the others, but the great beast had other plans. Flying right over and past the plateau, Appa headed north, judging by the sun.

It wasn't long that they continued to fly over baron sands, until another strange landmark was in sight. It was a great tree, one that had no place in such a dry place, but still seemed to be thriving. And at the base was a person, shrouded in white to keep the sun off. Appa hovered, letting Aang watch as the person pulled back the hood to reveal a woman's face. Still too far away to see any details; Aang could see that she had long black hair and tan skin. Then as he tried to fly Appa closer, Aang realized that the woman was looking right at them. And that her eyes were glowing with the white Avatar light!

AVATAR.thelastairbender.AVATAR.thelastairbender.AVATAR.thelastairbender.

Katara watched as her friend came through, tears pouring from his eyes. And though he'd only been in the Avatar State for a couple of minutes, she couldn't help the feeling that he'd just returned from a long spiritual journey.

End prologue.

Well I finally started my Avatar fic! Though because of goings on, this might take a while to finish; just so you're warned. Now this is important! I've decided to be nice, and in later chapters to write 2 versions of that single chapter. For examples; chapter 3A, or chapter 3B. "A" versions will have yaoi/shounen ai/gay romance. "B" versions will have no pairings at all. So no one can complain, I'm being very generous.

So anyway enjoy! And I hope to get many reviews.

Ryoko Porter


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer; I don't own anything from 'Avatar: the Last Airbender'. I only own the concepts of this fanfic, including my character Shin.

Shared Fates

By Ryoko Porter

Chapter One - Waves of Sand

"So you want to find this lady that you saw in a dream?" Sokka whined exasperated, as he absent mindedly picked the wax from his ear with his pinkie.

"Vision Sokka! Aang has visions when he's in the Avatar State, not dreams!" Katara corrected her brother wildly. After months of traveling with the Avatar, one would think that Sokka would by now have 'gotten it'.

"It's not really either of them," Aang muttered as the siblings quarreled. He was too tired to thoroughly correct his friends, but at least he knew that Toph had heard him. The Earthbender was no doubt clever enough to have some understanding of what he'd eluded to, and she could always ask for clarification later.

"WHATEVER!" Toph interrupted the fight loudly, affectively silencing Katara and Sokka. "It's not like it'll be too hard to find this woman. All we have to do is follow twinkle-toes' directions with the sand-glider that those Sandbenders left behind. It can't be that hard to find a gigantic tree in the middle of the desert!"

"But Aang," Katara worried. "What about Appa?"

"Well it was Appa who guided me to her, so I guess he's already there," Aang guessed with less enthusiasm than he should've had, due to his exhaustion.

"Then why doesn't he just come pick us up?" Sokka griped.

No one could think of a good answer.

AVATAR.thelastairbender.AVATAR.thelastairbender.AVATAR.thelastairbender.

Toph's prediction of the ease of finding the woman would have been correct, had a sandstorm not suddenly come down upon them. They had been swiftly gliding along, borderline enjoying their ride, when both the land and sky benders both felt a distant sort of shift within their elements.

It was Toph who expressed her concern first. "Ah guys, something's coming," she warned.

"What are you talking about?" Sokka melodramatically wondered. "There isn't anything but sand and sun out here. Not even the buzzards will come out this far!" the reason minded boy observed.

"Trust me," Toph argued. "Something's out there. And if I can feel it on this soft hazy mess, when I'm not even touching the ground; trust me it's big!"

Sokka just shook his head in disbelief, not convinced of the odds. Even Katara was hesitant to believe the blind girl, and was about to voice her uncertainty when Aang spoke.

"I can feel it too," he said as he stopped bending the air that guided their vessel. For a few moments everyone just stayed completely still, trying to detect whatever was coming their way.

"SHIT!" Sokka suddenly cursed, as he scrambled to his feet. "Aang, hurry and take down the sail! Katara, tie both you, Toph, and Momo to the deck! And everyone, cover your faces with something!" he barked as he readied straps for Aang and himself.

"Sokka, what's going on!" Aang asked.

"SANDSTORM!"

They had followed Sokka's orders then, and were later glad that they did. It was only a few seconds after the boys had tucked the sail under the deck and tied themselves down that a cloud of sand engulfed them.

Not knowing how long the storm would be, the at first tried only to wait it through. But as breathing became harder to stand - even through the fabric that protected them from breathing in the sand - Toph grew bold enough to fight it. Though she could not see what she was bending, the air was dense enough with sand that she could easily push it away from her. For a few minutes she continued to struggle on alone, creating a small barrier around her and the other's faces. But her blindness prevented her from keep the majority of sand away, with the changing wind patterns, it just moved too fast for her bending to grab a hold of.

"C'mon twinkle-toes! Give me a hand!" Toph barked at her student. She would've liked to use this as a learning opportunity and order him to Earthbend, but the situation was just too dangerous. Besides, it was a great help to have the winds directed away from them. So then, she could try and make sure they stayed atop the new waves of sand, rather than being buried.

In the end the storm only lasted about a half an hour, and ended as suddenly as it began. Yet both the two younger benders had lasted through it, bending their element as best they could against the powers of nature. Both were worn out as the tempest left, and Aang - already tired from the earlier rush of power via the Avatar State - collapsed gently into an immediately deep sleep. Toph let herself drop much more heavily than the Airbender onto the deck, also very near to dream land.

Katara and Sokka made sure that their friends were as comfortable as possible, letting them have their well deserved rest. Sokka laid them both gently under the lifted deck, using it to protect them from the waning sun. And Katara used the sail to cover them from the soon coming night chill. Then after playing a hand game to see who would take first watch Katara joined her friends under the more than roomy sail, leaving a sleeping Momo as Sokka's only company.

End chapter 1.

Sorry it took so long, I've been a bit busy lately. I really don't have the time to write this, but I really want to… and especially before I forget the story in my head. And no, notes don't work for me. Oh! And by the way, 'many short chapters' is the name of the game.

Ryoko Porter


	3. Chapter 2

Disclaimer; I don't own anything from 'Avatar: the Last Airbender'. I only own the concepts of this fanfic, including my character Shin.

Shared Fates

By Ryoko Porter

Chapter Two – Unexpected Encounters

Sokka had to fight desperately to keep awake, so that his surrogate family could safely rest their weary bodies. He had little doubt that their pain was much greater than his, but still his body ached! A small voice in the back of his mind whispered that it was the fault of his Water Tribe blood that he suffered so in the desert. Sokka's body was made to bear the cold of the South Pole, not the sweltering heat of an Earth Kingdom desert! The cactus juice he had drunk had quenched his thirst; but had left his body weak, and still he'd had to endure. And now, he wanted nothing more than to sleep his sickness away, though he could not.

Trusting that there was nothing to harm the others, Sokka decided to take a short walk. He wouldn't go far, just far enough that he could still have both his privacy and sight of camp. As he ventured out, Sokka noticed that despite the similitude of all of the sand dunes surrounding the glider, the storm had drastically changed the terrain. The shape of the land was different, and debris littered the ground. He thought for a moment that their might be something that he might salvage amongst the broken cacti, palm leaves, and locust corpses, but he knew that there was likely nothing usable. Well actually, they could eat the locusts; but he wasn't yet hungry enough to do that, maybe in the morning.

As Sokka went further out, he detected an odd shape protruding from the sand only a few yards away. So with his curiosity to nagging at him, the clever yet trouble attracting teen went to see what had been buried. His fatigued legs had nearly carried him to the odd shape when his foot caught on something and he fell heavily onto his face. Frustration flooded his face with hot blood and he cried out, ready to kick whatever had tripped him. But as he turned, the blood suddenly left his face and he felt a bit sick. It was a hand. A human hand stretched out of the sand, and contorted in the most distressed way. As if it had been trying to use the air to pull it's owner out from under the suffocating sand, the fingers were stretched outward desperately. But it was unmoving, and heavy with death. Sokka did not have the nerve to dig out any other part of the man -judging by the hand's features- who'd obviously been killed by the desert. Instead the teen covered the hand, so that he and the others would not have to look upon the flesh.

After taking moment to say a quiet prayer for the poor soul, Sokka remembered the reason that he'd come this way. Turning, he saw that they unusual looking mound of sand still had yet to give up any of it's secrets. Now being much closer now though, he could tell that whatever was under and within, was something not naturally of the desert. So with care not to again trip over the place where the hand was buried, Sokka got up and took the few more steps to his quarry. He hoped with everything he had that whatever he was about to uncover, was not the friends of deceased man behind him. But both his logic and his instinct told him that he should still see what it was. So with a steadying breath, he started to dig. He didn't have to go far, as he felt the smoothness of a polished terracotta. It turned out to be two huge pots, both amazingly undamaged, though lying on their sides. Excited at the prospect of having found food or drink, Sokka rushed to uncover the rest of the pots so he could stand them upright. Yet as he tried to lift the first of the pots, he found that it was much too heavy. So he tried the other, which was lighter, but still too heavy for him to lift alone. But sure that there was no liquid to spill pointlessly onto the dry ground, Sokka decided to it was safe to open them on their sides. So with a bit of difficulty, the desperately curious teen opened the lighter of the two.

"HOLY SHIT!" Sokka cried out in surprise as he fell back a few feet away from his peculiar prize.

There curled in an uncomfortable sort of ball, was the Firebender Zuko!

End chapter 2.

It bothered me that Zuko and Iroh crossed the desert being pulled along by a lone, unprepared old man, pulling them along in a sled… So this is my answer for it.

Ryoko Porter


	4. break

A Quick Author's Note

fans of Shared Fates, please be aware that i am turning this into a doujinshi (fan-comic) which can be seen starting at www. deviantart. com/ deviation/ 53536307/


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